WCSU & SCSU Join Forces To Train New Nurse Educators

DANBURY — The nursing departments of Western and Southern Connecticut State universities are joining forces to launch an innovative program in distance learning aimed at preparing a new generation of educators to replenish the dwindling ranks of nursing school faculties nationwide.

Beginning this fall, WestConn nursing students in the master of science program will have the opportunity to enroll in SCSU courses focusing on curriculum development and the educator’s role in the nursing profession. Grants totaling $175,000 from three state agencies will finance conversion of these courses for online instruction, enabling WestConn to broaden its master’s offerings by taking advantage of SCSU’s specialization track in nursing education. 

Dr Barbara Piscopo, who chairs the WestConn nursing department, observed that the collaboration addresses a critical need in the profession to ease the increasingly severe shortage of master’s and doctoral degree graduates in nursing qualified to teach and carry on research in the field.

“Many of our nurse educators are close to retirement, so we will be losing them soon,” said Dr Piscopo. “In general, we do not have enough people interested in becoming nurse educators. This is partly because of the competitive situation in the health care field, and partly because of the demands of becoming a tenured professor at most universities.”

Dr Piscopo found a willing partner in Dr Cesarina Thompson, SCSU Nursing Department chairperson, who readily agreed to open nursing education courses at SCSU to WestConn students. Recognizing opportunities for broader cooperation, Dr Piscopo and Dr Thompson met with Dr Estela Lopez, vice chancellor of the Connecticut State University (CSU) System, and Dr German Bermudez, CSU executive officer for assessment and learning technologies, to develop a grant proposal for conversion to online instruction. WestConn Professor of Nursing Dr Patricia Lund and Associate Professor of Nursing Dr Colleen Delaney have participated in planning.

Dr Thompson observed that WestConn and SCSU are well-suited to launch this collaborative program.

“We’re the only two public institutions in the CSU System that have undergraduate and graduate nursing programs,” Dr Thompson said. “It just made sense to combine our resources. It’s a win-win situation for both of us.”

The partnership paid off with the recent award of grants of $75,000 from the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA), and $50,000 each from the Connecticut Department of Higher Education (DHE) and Office of Workforce Competitiveness (OWC). In addition to the curriculum and technical requirements to take the courses online, the grants provide financing through 2007 for faculty, administrative and marketing costs.

Following a fall semester course in curriculum development and teaching, the yearlong program will conclude in the spring semester with a clinical course designed to provide hands-on training in diverse aspects of nursing education.

Under the guidance of a faculty preceptor in the WestConn nursing department, students will experience “the actual role of the nurse educator, working with faculty members, supervising and evaluating undergraduate nursing students, doing some classroom teaching and attending faculty meetings,” said Dr Piscopo. Students will submit reports on their clinical experience to their instructor at SCSU to complete course requirements.

For more information about this program, call the WestConn nursing department at 837-8556 or the WestConn Office of Public Relations at 837-8486.